Burning Water
by kalipsonoin
Summary: Slightly AU, 6x9. Lady Une pairs Zechs and Noin up as partners for a special assignment, but something goes wrong.
1. Tomorrow

The ring was loud and clear, and the hand that pushed papers out of the way seemed hardly anxious to find the source. Put the hand met its target and pulled the phone swiftly out of its cradle.  
  
"Hello?" a voice asked into the receiver, boredom cloaked with a thin veil of cheer. The conversation was short – hardly even worth being called a conversation. On one end, only a "Yes, Ma'am" and a "Right away, Ma'am" were spoken before the phone was returned to its resting-place with a sigh. She put her hands on her desk and pushed her chair back as she stood, glancing at the digital clock that sat on the corner of the cluttered desk that sat in the otherwise tidy room. Three o'clock in the afternoon. She'd missed lunch again. Standing up, she grabbed her jacket off the back of the chair and swung it on. She flicked off the light and opened the door, locking it as she stepped out into the deserted corridor. Wondering what Lady Une wanted, Noin continued down the hallway to find out exactly why her superior had ordered her presence.  
  
"Noin?" Lady Une inclined her head as her office door opened, then shut almost soundlessly.  
  
"Yes, Lady?" Noin answered as she glanced around the office, which was small, but not nearly as small as the room that housed Noin's desk, bed, and few belongings. "You called me?"  
  
"Yes." Une dropped the pencil she had been using to check off reports. "Noin, I understand that you perform very well in all of the areas that you cover. I have an assignment for you, and I'd like for you to have a partner in this assignment. From what I've seen, I think that you and this young man will work very well together. And as a matter of fact…" Une glanced at her watch. "He should be here any moment."  
  
As if on cue, a knock sounded on the door. Seconds later, the door opened gently, and in walked a quite handsome young man – wearing a mask. He nodded at Noin, then looked to Une.  
  
"Hello, Cadet Marquise." Une greeted. "I would like you to meet Cadet Lucrezia Noin. Noin, this is Zechs Merquise. I was just telling Noin about how you two will be paired up together for an assignment that's just come up." Noin searched the boy's face for any sign of what he thought of this arrangement, but she could see nothing under the mask that hid most of his face.  
  
Une shuffled some of the papers around on her desk, and finally pulled out a folder. She opened it, and pulled out even more papers to litter her desk.  
  
"Let's see…" She said, sifting through the pile. "Your mission is to research an opposition base we've found recently. To say the least, it's in the middle of nowhere. That's probably why we've never spotted it before. Anyway, you will infiltrate the base, and find out as much as you can about the enemies plans. You will return back here, and tell us all you learn."  
  
"So, basically, we're spies." Noin commented.  
  
"You can call it that, if you prefer. It doesn't matter. Just finish the job. A small plane will take off tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. I expect you both to be ready."  
  
"Yes, Ma'am." The two said, then turned and retreated to the empty corridor.  
  
Leaving. Tomorrow. It took a while for this to register in Noin's brain. She'd always wanted an assignment away from the base where she'd felt trapped for the last few years, but this wasn't quite what she'd had in mind.  
  
Footsteps down the hallway made her wake up. She turned to look at the back of her retreating partner as he walked away down the hallway.  
  
See you tomorrow, then. 


	2. The Crashing

The day was cold and windy, with hints of snow occasionally spiraling downward from the gray sky. The small plane's propeller cut swiftly through the air as the engine started and Noin climbed in. She placed her duffel bag behind the one long bench and sat next to her new partner, who had his hands on his crossed legs and his head leaned back against the seat. Noin strapped herself in and gave the pilot and OK, then pulled out a worn book and settled back in the seat.  
  
She dozed most of the time, staring out the window at the snow flurry that was slowly progressing into a small blizzard. She looked down and around. In the distance was a small dot – most likely a pond or lake – surrounded by a dense forest, which was coated with frosty white snow.  
  
Then there was the mountain. It was the most majestic thing that she'd seen on Earth. It stood tall and proud, as if it were winning a battle predicted it lost. It was in this grand mountain that the enemy base was buried. The opposing force was overly confident, seeming like that mountain. It had a foe seeming larger than an ocean standing high behind it. It was this place where Noin was to be a spy - to spend the next three months elevating through the ranks with the famous and mysterious Zechs Marquise. She would end up lying, killing, maybe back-stabbing. But all for the good of mankind.  
  
The engine sputtered, jerking Noin from her thoughts. She stole a quick glance at the silent soldier by her side, who was packing the small book he'd been reading carefully into his jacket. Noin unbuckled herself and pushed through the separating curtain into the cockpit.  
  
"What's going on?" She demanded of the young pilot, who was hurriedly fumbling with the controls.  
  
"Uh… Uh… it seems we've sprung a leak, Ma'am." His voice was trembling. "A leak from the fuel tank. And it must've been a pretty big hole, because we're almost running on empty."  
  
Noin walked back to the passenger hold and started carefully packing things from the plane into her bag. A first-aid kit, a survival kit. Better safe than sorry, she figured. Then Zechs appeared from the cockpit and opened a little door under the bench.  
  
"He's going to aim for the lake." He stated shortly, handing her a life jacket. "It might be frozen. It might not. Put it on, just in case."  
  
Noin blinked. "What about him?" She asked, gesturing towards the pilot.  
  
"He's a loyal soldier." Zechs explained. "He'll stay with his craft, even if it means his life."  
  
"Oh…" Noin breathed, and slowly pulled on her jacket. It would have been the same thing she would have done with her mobile suit, had the need be. But it struck her odd that the same would occur between a man and his plane. Maybe they weren't as different as she had thought.  
  
She carefully adjusted the straps on her jacket to fit, then looked at her partner. He sat, chin resting on his hand, looking out the window as the white scenery flashed by. It struck Noin as oddly beautiful, watching the handsome young man watch time race by in a flurry.  
  
But the moment was soon lost, and he was up again, working on the door latch. He pulled it open, then gestured to Noin as he grabbed his bag. She walked over to him and the door, carefully handling her duffel, and watched his face as he surveyed the area.  
  
"Jump when I tell you." He commanded as the ground started to rush up at them. The canopy of trees turned swiftly to ice, rising and falling in still waves.  
  
"Now!" He said, and Noin pushed her self out of the door into the icy wind. 


	3. I Was Wandering Aimlessly

For a second, he seemed to hang suspended in the air, but the feeling quickly diminished. In less than a moment, he landed on a thick patch of ice with a force that knocked the wind out of him. He slid a few feet on the ice, sending his long hair cascading over the glassy surface.  
  
He laid still for a few moments, gazing across the cold lake and staring at the snowy trees that scattered the shoreline before he cautiously sat up and gasped in pain. Hugging his hand, which was twisted in a most sickening position, to his chest, he looked up in the air as the plane, now passenger- less, advanced toward the looming mountain.  
  
The impact of the crash sent him flying backwards, and he ended up sprawling on the ice as the explosion rocked the mountainside and sent chunks of metal flying through the air. A small bolt rolled across the ice and Zechs watched it skid to a stop next to his jacket.  
  
He suddenly remembered that he hadn't been the only one who had jumped carelessly out of that plane.  
  
Frantically scanning the lake, his eyes sought whatever indication they could find of the seemingly calm girl who had fallen to the ice only seconds before him.  
  
There was a small blue duffel bag a few hundred feet behind him, and he slowly started to pull himself over the ice towards it, stretching one arm over the next and digging his fingernails into the ice. In reality, it only took him a few minutes to reach the hole, even though it seemed like hours.  
  
Pulling himself the last few feet, he inched forward to push away the duffel bag and noticed the hairline cracks in the surface at his fingertips. He shuddered and leaned forward. There was a hole in the ice.  
  
Little ripples stopped abruptly at the edge where ice and water met. And what was making those ripples was softly bobbing up and down in a huddled lump in an effort to keep warm.  
  
She looked up into his eyes and pleaded for help. The only thing that held her afloat was the feeble lifejacket that she had strapped on, and it hadn't helped prevent the blue color that was taking over her features.  
  
Tears streamed down her cheeks as he stretched his hand out and grasped her arm, pulling her through the water. He slowly and cautiously leaned further forward and pulled harder.  
  
The ice was cracked and thin, and hardly holding him up as it was. Under his weight and effort, it shattered, sending him into the lake along with the girl.  
  
Panicking, he let go of her and tried to pull himself onto the ice before he realized that he would never make it up in the bulky lifejacket that hugged his chest. Tearing it off and ignoring the stabs of pain the movement sent through his hand and wrist, he gasped as the water fully took over him, and grabbed Noin again. Smiling at her as reassuringly as he could, he swam to the edge of the hole and took quite a nice amount of time trying to lift himself out of the ice, which wouldn't cooperate with him.  
  
It gave way under his arms, and he pushed his way further, and, being sure to drag the bag along with him, he started breaking a pathway to the shore. Noin, still curled together in effort to conserve heat, did not say a word as she was pulled through the large chunks of floating ice by the gasping young man in front of her.  
  
Instead, she trembled, and fingered his hair absently. She twisted it and braided it, not the slightest bit aware of doing so. Zechs was not having any luck getting atop of the ice, but he was having much with his pathway, and he took a second to catch his breath before he continued on the last few yards to the shore. 


	4. The World Around Them

It was colder out of the water than in it. The wind whistled past them, sending snow in their eyes and stealing their breath. Noin collapsed on the ground, making a deep hole in the thick snow. She kept her back to the wind, and held up her arm to shield her face.  
  
Zechs, on the other hand, somehow managed to trudge ahead to the protection of the trees. He didn't have the strength to turn and see how his companion was faring - all he could do was stumble onward in hopes that there was something waiting ahead.  
  
Apparently, he was lucky.  
  
Beyond the first few yards of trees, there was a somewhat large clearing. In the center of the somewhat large clearing was a somewhat dilapidated cabin. It did, however, look fairly inhabitable.  
  
And there was only one thing that Zechs thought at that moment.  
  
Thank god.  
  
  
  
By the time he had dragged Noin, who was, by, then, unconscious, back to his discovery, he was loosing feeling in his lower legs.  
  
Surely, this could not be a good thing.  
  
He took a few moments doing the best he could to pat a hole in the wall of snow that took up half the cabin. He'd read somewhere that snow was a good insulator. And right then, he quite needed warmth.  
  
First, he pulled Noin into the small space he'd made. Then, he climbed in after her. Even after only a few seconds, it was incredibly warm in the little space. Zechs didn't know if the heat would reach through their wet and frozen clothes, but his mind wasn't functioning properly enough to actually worry.  
  
Within seconds, he was asleep. 


	5. Looking For Space

[life in a cake pan]  
  
Noin was damp and warm when she woke up. And alone.  
  
It took her a few minutes to realize that she shouldn't have been.  
  
And even when she did, she hardly had the energy to do more than blink before closing her eyes again.  
  
~*~  
  
"Noin?" A voice asked, somehow familiar, but at the same time not.  
  
"Uh?." she breathed, but didn't take the effort to open her eyes.  
  
"Wake up." He shook her shoulder, then was gone.  
  
She stretched her legs into the snow, and opened one eye, then the other, before climbing out of the hole into the shelter of the ramshackle cabin into the bitter cold, which her clothes blocked only oh-so-well.  
  
There sat Zechs. His hood was pulled over his head, shadowing his maskless face from her eyes. Noin realized with a start that he must have lost it in the fall. In front of him was a collapsible propane stove, on which was a pot of slowly melting snow. In his hands was a packet of instant something, both of which must have come out of the emergency bag Noin had grabbed. At even this feeble prospect of food, Noin realized exactly how hungry she really was.  
  
She sat down next to him, but not too close. She was still a bit wary of his existence.  
  
His face interested her. What could it bear that he would hide from the whole world?  
  
Apparently, he didn't intend to tell her, or even show her. Not that she would have expected him to. He was careful to hide himself, even as he finished mixing the goo that was their meal and handed her the pan. She ate half of it, then gave him the rest. The only noise during the entire ordeal was the click of the spoon on the bottom of the pan.  
  
After he was done, he went outside the cabin and scrubbed the pan with snow, cleaning it as best he could. Then, he packed up the stove and put them both in one of the corners of the cabin that was not covered in snow.  
  
Noin was still hungry.  
  
She looked around the small cabin, the dirt floor and the pile of broken boards to one side. The brick fireplace was crumbling, as were most of the walls, though they kept out quite a bit of wind and snow. What once had been a window looked a bit burnt around the edges, and there was no sign of the glass that would have fit inside the frame. Then there was the thick wall of snow that had been her bed, which she ached to return to.  
  
Her companion's movement jarred her from her fluffy thoughts of beds and comfort, and she looked to see what he was doing. One hand gingerly rubbed the wrist of another, which was tightly but messily bound in cloth. It was his right hand, which explained the difficulty he must have had bandaging it. "Are you all right?" Noin asked, moving a bit closer toward him. The action sent a wave of nausea through her, and she paused, closing her eyes and placing her hands on the cold ground to brace herself.  
  
Zechs moved closer in an attempt to help her, but she motioned him away.  
  
"I-I'm fine." She gasped, and started to back away to the small hole in the snow. "I'm just tired." She crawled in clumsily and closed her eyes.  
  
She looked like she was crawling into a grave.  
  
Zechs shivered.


	6. BreathWays Closed

Zechs leaned his head against the wall. Would the enemy, with their eyes high above on that mountain, have seen them? Or even have taken the chance to send out a search party to look for them?  
  
He doubted it, but there was always a chance.  
  
And then, what should they do? Should they stay there in hopes they were found, or should they start their dangerous trek up the mountain, or, worse yet, try to find their way back to their "home"?  
  
Then, still, there was Noin. She hadn't looked very well when she had woken up. Her body didn't seem to be very tolerant of the cold. Not at all, really. And his wrist was, undoubtedly, broken. He'd done a rather sloppy job binding it, and it hurt even just lying in the snow. That wasn't all. Hunger reigned, and the meager supply of packaged foods Noin's waterproof emergency bag had supplied had seemed awfully inadequate.  
  
He hadn't touched the other bag. the one that was hers. It was dusted with snow and hard with ice, looking forlorn and out of place against the packed dirt and rotting leaves of the ground. He shivered, and looked up into the sky, which was slowly turning dark in the early evening.  
  
The lack of light wouldn't be an added bonus. He figured that they should eat again, while the sun still provided enough radiance to "cook" by. There was a flashlight, and batteries, but the risk of being seen was too great. Who knew what they might think up there.. They were the enemy.  
  
Zechs pulled out the stove, and the pot, which he used to scoop up a liberal amount of snow before placing it on the fiery burner. He waited until it was almost melted, added a bit more, and went to wake Noin.  
  
As before, he shook her shoulder. But, unlike before, she did not stir.  
  
"Noin?" he shook a bit harder. There was no response. A worried breath billowed out in front of him. Using his injured wrist as best he could, he pulled her out of the hole. Her skin was cold, too cold, and a thin sheet of frost flaked off from her jacket as he moved her.  
  
"Noin." he breathed, and leaned his face closer to hers. A soft breath tickled his cheek, reassuring him that she was alive, though only barely. He laid her down flat, and lifted her feet slightly, setting them on a few boards. Recovery position, it was called, for those suffering from hypothermia.


	7. Sideways Identification

[.i.like.cherry.candy.canes.]  
  
  
  
  
  
Zechs panicked. Normally, he wouldn't have. But Cadet Noin seemed. important. Too important to loose at this point in the game. For it was a game. He was just another pawn in Treize's little war. Treize. The man who did everything for a reason, and made no mistakes. Sometimes Zechs hated him. Sometimes. his feelings went beyond hate.  
  
He'd been trained for things like this. He'd been trained for things that were in no way anything like this. But his mind was too hurt, too angry, too lost, to properly focus. He closed his eyes. And remembered.  
  
Unconscious. No response to painful stimuli. Check airway, protect skin. monitor pulse and breathing. May tolerate plastic airway.  
  
Plastic airway. Zechs jumped, pulled the red emergency bag closer, and pilfered through it's depths. He hadn't seen one there before, but you never knew.  
  
There.  
  
~*~  
  
After he'd been at it for a while, her pulse quickened. Not by much, but enough to make a difference. After a bit longer, her eyelids fluttered. After still a bit longer, she tried to push him away. He sidled off, but only so that he was barely a few feet away.  
  
Noin felt better. The world was drowsy, and she drifted, but she almost knew what was going on. where she was. why..  
  
After a while, she began to feel herself again. She woke, and started shivering. Hands came to her aid, helping her sit into a more comfortable position. She knew she shouldn't have been so dry, but she was too cold to care, and clung to the space blanket wrapped around her body and head. What seemed like a long time later the hands pushed something warm towards her, which she grasped with both hands, savoring the warmth of it.  
  
"Drink it." The hands tilted the little metal cup toward her mouth, and the warmth flowed down her throat. It was sweet, and made her sputter, but she latched onto it like a child and drained the cup.  
  
The hands gently removed the cup from her grasp.  
  
She looked over at him as he scrubbed it out with snow, his back to her.  
  
"Thank you." Her voice was hoarse, and her throat ached.  
  
He paused, then started to scrub the pot that had been on the little stove.  
  
"These aren't the clothes I was wearing before."  
  
This time, he turned and looked at her.  
  
She recognized him. He could see it in her eyes. Of course, one of the top cadets of OZ, second only to him in their level, should know who he was. It felt kind of funny, to live again. Besides Treize, she would be the only one who knew of his existence. To the rest of the world, he had died long ago.  
  
"I know." He had dared to go through her blue bag. She had been smart, keeping all of her clothes in airtight plastic bags. They were all dry, even her several pairs of socks, all of which she was wearing.  
  
"Aren't you cold?" His face was beautiful, Noin thought. Not one that deserved the life it had lived, the pain it had withheld. It hurt her to think of it.  
  
He shrugged. "I'll survive."  
  
"Here." she started to pull off the blanket. Her fingers refused to cooperate.  
  
"No." He stopped her. "You're sick."  
  
"I'm fine."  
  
"You're shivering. And your lips are blue."  
  
Noin didn't argue. She didn't really feel like it. She lied down, and they looked at each other for a while. Then, she closed her eyes, and fell asleep.


	8. Bleeding Repetition

[bleeding repetitiously]  
  
  
  
  
  
Zechs was more careful this time. He woke her up periodically, made sure she ate and drank, even though he almost felt like he was wasting their precious food supply. After the pondered it over a bit more, though, he changed his mind. To keep her alive wasn't a waste. Saving her was something that made him feel something he hadn't felt in a long time. happiness, almost. He didn't know that soon the tables would be turned.  
  
She'd asked him how his wrist was at one point. Truthfully, he'd forgotten about it since then. But now, when his mind was on it, it started to throb and ache in the cold.  
  
But before he knew it, dark fell, and the weariness of the past days fell on his shoulders. He closed his eyes, and in seconds, he was asleep.  
  
~*~  
  
The heavy crunch of boots on snow, the loud voices of many men, and the flickering of flashlights shining through the trees woke Zechs with a start. Light flashed through a gap in the wall, and illuminated Noin's sleeping face.  
  
"Hey, look over here!" a voice called, and Zechs froze. They were coming closer. He moved closer to Noin, trying to wake her up, get her to move. He pulled his hood over his face. There were some people he didn't want to see him.  
  
They approached, shined their lights on him, signaled to their others. "We've found them!" a man yelled loudly, and Zechs flinched at it after the previous silence he had endured. The light continued to shine in his eyes. The man crept closer. Behind him, Noin stirred.  
  
"Zechs?" she mumbled, trying to lift herself up. "What's. . ."  
  
"Shhh." he said, reaching behind her and groping for her hand. When he found it, he took it in his own, and looked up at the men bearing down on them.  
  
"Hello, sir. Would you like a cup of tea?" one of the men said, and the others roared in laughter. "We've made the mistake of discovering who you really are, you see, and we were wondering if you'd like the pleasure of warm drinks before we take you captive and imprison you in the middle of nowhere for a few decades."  
  
"Or until you die." Someone interrupted. The men continued to laugh.  
  
"Go to hell." Noin rasped weakly, but loud enough so they all could hear it.  
  
"Aye, little girl, that may be your wish, but I've got different plans."  
  
Noin didn't reply, but her eyes closed, and Zechs felt her hand go limp in his own.  
  
"Come here, boy." The man reached out towards him. Zechs knocked his hand away. The man just laughed. "That's the way it's going to be, is it, now?" he declared. "Well, then, we'll just have to go about this the hard way." He reached forward again, but this time his hand wasn't knocked away as easily. Zechs moved away, pushing the man into a crumbling wall. This, of course, angered him, and he lashed back, striking Zechs in the chest. He stumbled backwards, but then attacked again, and the gruff soldier fell again.  
  
This, in turn, angered the rest of the men, who pounced upon Zechs like a pack of starving lions, throwing themselves at him vigorously. Zechs fought back as best he could, but even the best is sometimes not enough. It wasn't long before a fist buried itself in his chest.  
  
It all went downhill after that.


	9. downfallsurrounding

[downfall surrounding profanity]  
  
  
  
He ached. Blood pooled under his head, and he was lying on the hard floor. It felt harder than the ground in the 'cabin'. Probably because they'd taken most of his clothes. He was left only with his hooded sweater and a pair of extremely dirty, bloody pants. He could hardly move, he hurt so much. His joints felt as if glued together, but he still managed to pull himself to his knees and search his way in the dark to a wall he could sit up against. The walls were almost as cold as the room was dark.  
  
His breath echoed off the cold, cold walls.  
  
His blood throbbed in his ears, his head spun at the slightest movement.  
  
His hands trembled.  
  
The door opened.  
  
Light flooded the room, once again temporarily blinding Zechs, who was grabbed by the collar of his shirt and dragged through the hallways. He hadn't the energy to resist.  
  
The hall was long and lined with doors. All of them looked the same, which might have been from his exhaustion. They might all have actually been identical. He didn't really care.  
  
The endless corridor came to an abrupt end, and a door was thrown open. Zechs was shoved inside. Unlike his cave, this room was sweltering.  
  
"Why, hello, there, my little prisoner." A familiar voice cooed.  
  
"You again." Zechs mumbled.  
  
"Yes, yes, me again." Footsteps sounded, and Zechs's head was jerked upward. "You see, pretty, we have no idea who you are, but we do know where you are from. You are our enemy. We intercepted your transmissions. And you have information that could be very useful to us." Zechs almost sighed in relief. The man didn't recognize him.  
  
Not that he necessarily should have.  
  
"I'll never tell you anything." He spat, and pushed the man away, which didn't accomplish much. He fell to the ground, and winced as his bruised body fell against the hot tiles.  
  
"That's what you think." The man grinned.  
  
~*~  
  
Hours and hours later, Zechs fell to the ground yet again. This time, though, he was barely breathing. The man sheathed his knife, and stared down at his broken victim.  
  
"He's not going to tell us anything."  
  
The figure hiding in the shadows spoke.  
  
"Perhaps. the girl will know."  
  
"No. He knows more than she does. Much, much more. Besides, she's just a little girl. An ill little girl, at that. It wouldn't be right to chain her up and force secrets out of her." He sounded a tad too evil.  
  
"Perhaps."  
  
"Not perhaps. I do not want you to do anything without my consent, or you will be sure you will receive punishment. Severe punishment, Rakael." The man nudged the young man on the floor with his boot. "Put him with the girl. Be sure that they are fed. We do not want them to die, understand that. We need them, as they will need us." And he walked out the door, which had been opened only a few seconds earlier by an unknown force on the outside.  
  
The man in the corner wrinkled his nose. "As you wish." He sneered at his master's vanishing back.  
  
~*~  
  
Noin jumped when the door opened. She scrambled backwards on the bed, moving as far away from the door as she could. Zechs was tossed in like a rag doll, and a tray was slid in after him. Then, the door closed with a loud, echoing thud, a key turned in its lock, and footsteps sounded away down the hall.  
  
Noin stepped off the bed and crawled towards the figure on the ground. When she poked him, he didn't move, and fear blossomed in her chest. She grasped him by the armpits and pulled him further into the room, further into the light.  
  
She pulled her hands back in terror. They were covered with blood, as was most of the boy. His chest and his back were covered in bleeding red slashes, as were the bottoms of his feet. Most of his ribs were broken, and one of his arms was laying at a rather awkward angle.  
  
"Zechs.?" Noin's voice trembled. She prodded him carefully. "Zechs. Zechs!" she cried, picking him up and resting his head in her lap. His breaths were quick and shallow, and his nose leaked blood onto her pants.  
  
He mumbled something.  
  
"What?" Noin leaned closer, her ear hovering just above his mouth.  
  
"He. he said." Zechs coughed. "He said my face was too beautiful to destroy." His hand grasped hers tightly, and his head lolled to the side.  
  
"He was right." Noin breathed. "He was right.."  



	10. Pieces of Oblivion

[little.pieces.of.the.nothing.]  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
It took Zechs a long time to wake up. When he finally did, he immediately tried to sit up, but was pushed gently back down by Noin. Even the slight pressure of her fingers on his skin made pain ripple through him. He didn't need to move for the world to swim before his eyes, and his disoriented and pained mind felt as if it was being repeatedly struck with a hammer.  
  
The face looming worriedly above him slowly came into focus.  
  
"Noin?" He said, though it came out more like a whisper.  
  
She smiled at him. "Hi. Are you feeling all right?"  
  
He didn't answer her, just closed his eyes.  
  
"Zechs?"  
  
"What happened?" He asked.  
  
"They broke you." Noin simply stated. "And threw you in here."  
  
He opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling. "What's this?" One hand lightly tugged on one of the bandages that tightly bound his skin.  
  
"Bed sheets."  
  
"They gave you bed sheets.? They gave me a cold, dark room." he didn't finish the sentence, just closed his eyes again.  
  
"They said we're too important to waste. They didn't want me to die. They don't want you to die either. We possess useful information."  
  
Her to die.? He looked at her. Her skin was pale. Much, much paler than usual. There were bags under her eyes. bags the darkest shades they could be. And she was thinner than she had been. She was still beautiful, though.  
  
"What did they do to you?" He asked, yearning to touch her.  
  
"Nothing worse than what they did to you." She pointed out, and shifted her weight.  
  
He was on the bed, he suddenly realized. She kneeled on the floor next to him, so that her face was closer to his. Her lips turned slightly upward in a smile, then her eyes closed, and she drifted.  
  
And she fell asleep.  
  
And he studied her face. He wanted to look at it more, look at it longer, but his eyelids drooped too.  
  
And he fell asleep.


	11. Breakableness Expires

[Blushed Blue]{DetestingYou}  
  
  
  
Sometimes looking dangerous is enough. Now .it's not.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Zechs finally sat up. Noin had continuously poked and prodded him until he had peeled open an eye, and then had tugged gently on an arm until he had consented to let her help him sit up. When he winced she hurt, and when he sighed she felt lonely and tired.  
  
The room was nearly silent as Noin brought him his meal. It was impossible to determine what time in the day it was, and the meals all seemed to blend into one another. The door was open, the tray from the last opening was taken, and a new one, along with sometimes steaming food, was slid in.  
  
Today it looked particularly interesting.  
  
Zechs couldn't even tell what it was.  
  
It tasted okay, though. Noin didn't seem to like it all that much. The look on her face was almost comical, and she'd take three gulps of water to each bite of the stuff. Zechs managed to get most of it into his mouth and swallow it before he nearly fell asleep again. He placed his bowl at his side and twisted so that his legs fell over the edge of the bed. He was stick of sleep.  
  
Today, he'd rather think a little bit before losing to his world of nightmares. Once his eyes were closed, he sank like a stone in water. And, like that stone, it was almost impossible to float back to the surface without some sort of help. In this case, it was Noin.  
  
Noin.. Why was it they had no use for her? Not like they did him, anyway. She knew things, he could see, just as he did. And their captors had given him no inkling to what he was even supposed to be confessing to them. Maybe they figured they could take whatever they squeezed out of him.  
  
Which brought him back to Noin. They didn't definitely know that he knew more than she did. And her illness was a poor excuse. As far as he could see, she was perfectly fine now. And unless their plan was far more sinister, they weren't going to get very far in barraging them for the information they didn't have.  
  
And it wasn't like he would tell them anyway.  
  
Treize might not have been the most reliable or truthful person around, but it wasn't like he didn't try, at least part of the time... And it wasn't like Zechs was going to go and spill all of his friend's secrets just because of a single beating. Near-death experiences didn't seem as threatening anymore.  
  
He woke from his reverie as Noin stole his bowl and placed it back on the tray by the door.  
  
She washed her hands in the little sink next to the toilet in what might have been considered a room built off of the room. She walked back out, wrapped herself in one of the blankets that heaped in a corner of the room, and sat to stare at her knees.  
  
He'd noticed that she did that often. He wasn't much of a companion, not much of a talker, and most of the time he was asleep anyway. He suddenly realized exactly how little he knew about her. He didn't ask, though. It was her life. If she wanted to tell him, she would.  
  
"What's it like?" Her voice broke the silence. She didn't look at him.  
  
"What's. what like?" He asked her, lying back down on the bed.  
  
"Being dead." She asked. "Or at least. having everyone think you're dead."  
  
Zechs pondered this before answering. "It's. almost like a dream. No, almost a nightmare. You're always someone you're not. Like the world is a game of pretend. After a while, though.. It all kind of dulls into a soft numbness. Like you can't feel any of it at all. It's. kind of hard to explain."  
  
"I think I understand." Noin responded from under her hood of blankets.  
  
"Noin." He said. "Never die. It's not something anyone should ever have to go through, especially not you." He frowned at the ceiling. " No one else should have to suffer such a thing as living after their death. at least not as I have."  
  
Silence.  
  
Then, footsteps echoed down the hallway, drawing ever closer. They stopped terribly near, and the ring of keys sounded. The lock turned, and a voice called.  
  
"You, girl.. Come here."  



	12. Unchained Memories

[UnChArtEd ShaDoWs]  
  
  
  
  
  
Noin slid warily into the chair, her eyes on the man at the other end of the table. Noin did not recognize him from before. His head in his hands, he looked miserable and defeated. The room was well lit. No one could hide in the shadows. The room was silent for a long while. Only their breathing echoed off the walls.  
  
Finally, the man pushed his chair back and stood. He held his hands behind his back and stared at the wall Noin was facing, so that his back was to her. He hung his head.  
  
"I apologize for any of the pain I may have caused you and your friend." He said. "You see, the war has been becoming increasingly out of hand, and many men would have died if we did not show the Alliance. your opposing force. that we were succeeding in obtaining information, succeeding in suppressing your activity. We never had any intention of causing you or the Peacecraft boy any trouble."  
  
Noin's breath caught in her throat. "You. . ."  
  
"I am the only one who knows his identity. However, the Alliance may soon discover your secret. They have sent inspectors to each of the former guerrilla bases, such as this one, to be sure there is nothing 'sinister' going on. The one assigned to us, Rakael, is a very cruel man, and would not keep your secret if it would save his life. He cares not about the meaning of life, only the meaning of war." The man rubbed his temples. "I want to get both of you out of here. But, with the injuries both of you have suffered, It may not be as easy as I may have hoped. All of us grow tired of the battles we know are coming, and the secrets we are forced to keep.  
  
"You need no place in this war. I tried to make sure they did not injure you further. . . you were very ill."  
  
"I'm fine." She stated.  
  
The man grinned, and a bit of himself came back. "Yes, you may think so, but wait till you go back out into the cold. Then you may not feel so great. What we need to do is find a way to get the both of you out of here without anyone finding out. Most of the soldiers are willing to help. I have begun to devise a plan, so that you will be able to return to your base."  
  
This all seemed odd to Noin. "Why are you doing this for us?"  
  
"Many reasons." He explained. "One of which is very important. You see, years ago, before the Sanc Kingdom fell, I knew its prince. He was a very kind young boy, and over the years I came to owe him a great debt. I knew that one day I would have to repay this debt, as it haunted me day and night for years and years. . ." His smile was wistful. "That day has finally come, and it is the least I can do for him. For both of you."  
  
The door opened, a man came inside. The same man that had brought Noin to the room.  
  
"We will talk again when I have more information." The man said, and gestured for Noin to leave. "Go."  
  
"Wait. . . Will you tell me your name?" Noin asked suddenly, wishing for more before she was forced to leave.  
  
The man froze, then turned away from her. "My name. . . I am Nikolas Aimon, former Captain of the Royal Guard of the Sanc Kingdom."  
  
And she was led away down the hall.  



	13. Temptation Leashed

[TheyWouldn'tUnderstand}Wouldn'tKnowTheDifference{WouldYou?}  
  
[ChasingWideIslandsOfSky]  
  
  
  
ReleasedImprisonment  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Zechs was asleep when she returned. This almost made her happy. . . Not the fact that he wasn't there to keep her company, but that she had time to think things over. She pulled the blanket over his almost-still body, then sat down next to the bed and leaned her head back against the wall. She silently debated whether she should tell Zechs - or rather, Milliardo - about the former captain of the guard and what he had been forced to do to save himself and his soldiers, and about his plan to help them escape.  
  
Escape gave her more to think about. How would they be able to achieve freedom? They were practically in the middle of nowhere, or so it seemed. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall, and a small thud sounded. Noin sighed and stared up at the familiar, pattern-less ceiling.  
  
"Noin?" A whisper of a voice asked.  
  
"Hm?" She returned to reality. "What?" She peered over the edge of the bed at Zechs, whose eyes were locked on the ceiling.  
  
"Nothing." He closed his eyes again. "I just wanted to make sure you were there. . ." His voice trailed off, and he was asleep again.  
  
~*~  
  
The next meal was brought by Nikolas Aimon. He set the heavily laden tray down next to the door, and moved over to the sleeping figures in the far corner. He bent next to the bed, and Noin's eyes opened and watched him without worry. He stared gently at Zechs's pale face, his eyes growing increasingly sad. Zechs's breaths were short and shallow, and he'd been drifting in and out of consciousness for days. He was only hanging on by a thread. His blood stained both his skin and the sheets beneath them.  
  
The observer spoke. "He doesn't look all that good, does he, now. . ." He glanced at Noin. "I had no idea his condition was so serious."  
  
"I neglected to mention that part." Noin said wearily.  
  
"You don't look that well, either." He confirmed. Her eyes were bloodshot and her eyelids drooped with the weight piled on her shoulders.  
  
"Thanks. . ." she murmured.  
  
"Both of you need medical treatment." He stood. "And I don't care what anyone says. I'm loosing my patience with the world. Stay here. I'll be right back."  
  
And he left.  
  
"Noin?" Zechs mumbled almost incoherently. "Who was that?" He looked over at her with sullen eyes.  
  
"Someone who is going to help us." She leaned her head next to his on the pillow.  
  
Zechs turned his gaze back to the ceiling. As usual, it held no emotion. Less than usual, even. He sighed and coughed, his chest heaving with the effort. He said no more, just stared at the ceiling, then slept.  
  
Noin, overcome with the helplessness of her situation and the lack of moves she could make in the game, also closed her eyes, and let the oblivion overtake her.  



	14. Sinful Adorations

sinfuladorationrestraint  
  
PlayingBreakingGames.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Both Zechs and Noin had been taken to the base's sick bay. The ominous inspector Rakael was falsely informed that they had been transported to another facility. The guerrilla soldiers, however, encouraged Zechs and Noin, and treated them as friends, allies. Sometimes it seemed that way. Noin had been almost mystified when so many of the men had greeted their presence with welcoming smiles, and had fearlessly slept most of the day away.  
  
When she woke up, however, the plans for their escape were being plotted silently amongst the soldiers, and Noin was restless for news. You could see it in their eyes, the hope they felt for the freedom of the ones who had been their prisoners only hours ago. There were also secrets in their eyes. Secrets they were dying to tell to them but couldn't - wouldn't - until safety was assured. Noin couldn't help but to let her heart love their courage.  
  
They were defying orders. They could all die for this. for them. But they didn't care. They wanted freedom for at least someone, even if they must risk their own deaths in the process.  
  
One of them, a younger man called Briaene, drew near. "Soon. Soon we will know. Hopefully, you'll be out of here soon."  
  
"Thanks for your help." Noin smiled, and glanced at her delicate friend in the next bed. "He'd thank you, too, if he was awake."  
  
Zechs had been conscious a few hours ago, and had stayed that way for a fairly long amount of time. It was enough time to hold a small bit of a conversation, and for her to explain to Zechs at least some of that was going on. He hadn't seemed fully functional, though, so she wasn't sure if he would remember even waking later.  
  
How they would manage to get them out of there was a mystery to Noin. They had to take Zechs's condition into consideration. Noin was fine, but she still tired easily, and didn't have much of an appetite. She yawned and glanced at the clock on the wall. Eight o'clock p.m. It was later than she had realized. If no one came soon with news, she would surely be asleep by the time they did come. She nestled a bit deeper in her bed and looked over at Zechs. He looked a lot better, and his wounds were healing well. He'd seemed all right before, only a bit tired and bruised. She ran her eyes over him and smiled. No one else had recognized him, or at least had not let on that they had. There was a difference between how he looked now and how he had looked as a young boy before the burning of Sanc. . . his face had matured as well as the rest of him, physically as well as mentally.  
  
As it had many times in the past, the opening of a door alerted Noin and she turned to face Nikolas.  
  
"Hello." She said.  
  
"Hello." He replied, and stopped in the doorway. "Tomorrow, at dawn, we will get you to an airplane that will hopefully carefully transport you back to your headquarters." He paused. "Hopefully, it will be as easy at it seems. The only problems we will encounter are trying to move you when you are not near any of Rakael's scheduled rounds. This should not be difficult, as he is a man who sticks to his schedule. His days are rarely different. But there is bound to be some trouble." He smiled. "However, if all of us work together around him, everything should work out." His voice was reassuring.  
  
She smiled at him and nodded, and he turned and left the room. The plan seemed fail-safe, but there was something, if not many things, he was not telling her. She tried not to worry about it, and closed her eyes. Dawn would come earlier.


	15. Holding In Chains

{Hush}  
Noin felt much better when she woke. Zechs did, too. He surely looked much better, and his eyes were no longer clouded with pain. And though Noin was happy to see this, she also noticed that they were turning into the cold blue eyes of the soldier in Une's office, not the human being Noin had befriended. He was a lost prince. Noin smiled at this thought. It seemed too much like a fairy tale if she pictured it in her head. But when she looked around her, she faced the harsh realization that this hardly was anything you could compare to fairy tales, which always had happy endings.  
  
She didn't know how this would end, and in the back of her mind were the horrible thoughts of what could happen. How it could go wrong, their fail- safe plan.  
  
A glance at the tiny window told her that Nikolas would be there soon. He would lead them down a maze of halls, and then the small army of soldiers would carefully sneak them down the halls and out of their prison cell. They would meet one, which would lead them to another, who would lead them to another, and another, until they emerged into daylight once again.  
  
Zechs was looking at the window, too. Well, he really wasn't looking at it. He was more looking beyond it, into the past, or maybe the future. Noin wondered what he was thinking about. Someday she wanted to get to know him better, understand the deep hideaways of his complex soul. She sighed and stood, then walked to a wall and leaned against it. Anticipation pulsated through her veins.  
  
He looked over at her. He almost looked small, sitting on the unsteady bed in such an awkward position. Almost like a child. Then his gaze shifted to the door, which opened only a few seconds later, and the silent figure beyond it gestured for them to follow him. Noin took a step forward, Zechs stood, and then they began.


	16. Olim Pauper Nullus Pecunia Aut Pax Offer...

NormalAbnormal  
The halls were dark and cold. Most of the building lay dormant, waiting for the sun to rise halfway. Then it would begin its hectic, usual day, with only a few slight changes from the day before. Noin was nervous, though she found no reason why she should be. The halls were empty. There was no one to catch them, and the possibility of running into a soldier loyal to Rakael or even to the evil man himself were very small. But then again, very small was still something.  
  
After a few minutes and a few soldiers later, they had drawn upon a familiar face. One of the friendly young men that had brought them their meals was leading them through the corridors with an encouraging smile on his face. Noin walked behind him, and Zechs walked next to her, and every once in a while one of his legs would give way and he would almost fall. He didn't complain, though, and Noin felt that it would be too awkward if she lent him a shoulder to lean on. She flinched, though, every time he drew a ragged breath.  
  
The man in front of them started to gesture them down a hallway, but then paused, signaled for them to stop, and listened, concentration etched on his face. Noin glanced around. She didn't see anything, nor hear anything, but her senses were still slightly altered, and she trusted the man.  
  
Zechs seemed to hear it, though, and turned willingly when the soldier ushered them into a nearby doorway.  
  
Seconds later, the footsteps of half a dozen men thundered past through the hallway they had almost entered.  
  
They waited for the footsteps to fade, then continued on. Their pace was now brisk, and the smile had disappeared from their escort's face. Noin didn't dare say anything, but kept up with them and winced more as breath of the young man beside her became quick and shallow. Her heart pounded in her chest, and fear flashed in her eyes.  
  
"Here." The soldier drew their attention to him. He pointed down a short hallway. "Go down there. Take a left. Briane will be there. He will lead you on." He paused and smiled. "Good luck." And he ran away, following the path of the other soldiers.  
  
Zechs and Noin followed the corridor, rounded the hallway, and were confronted by a very nervous-looking young man. Far away, a shot rang out.  
  
"What's going on?" Noin asked, glancing behind her from where the shot had come.  
  
"Someone told Rakael that you're still here. That you're escaping." Briane said, and drew his gun from its holster. "We must run."  
  
Run they did. The hallways melted into one another as they dashed through them, doorways flashed by as if they weren't even there at all. Zechs lagged a few feet behind. Every few minutes they would pause for him, but before long they were running again.  
  
Noin's eyes drifted to the floor, where shadows and tiles drifted together to form patterns, which were continuously swept away behind her. Her mind swept away with them, and she almost ran into Briane when he suddenly halted.  
  
Noin looked up.  
  
And froze.  
  
Before them stood a wall of soldiers, their guns cocked and aimed, sorrow marked on their faces. With them stood the corrupt Rakael, and evil grin pasted across his face.  
  
Braine grabbed their hands and darted town a side hallway just as they fired, and pushed Zechs and Noin on.  
  
"Run!" he yelled, and fired his gun at the oncoming soldiers perched around the corner. The odds were incredibly unfavorable, and Noin wasn't ready to leave the man, but Zechs pulled her hand.  
  
"Down the hall, take a left, and you'll be at the hangar. There should be something there you can get out of here with. Go!" And around the corner came the enemy, just as Zechs and Noin disappeared around another.  
  
~*~  
  
The hangar loomed before them, huge and formidable. All around them loomed mobile suits and heavy machinery. Concerning transportation, there wasn't much to choose from.  
  
Zechs had entered and activated a suit within a second, and Noin did the same. The loss of the kind young man they had, in away, helped kill, flooded her eyes with tears. She tried, though, not to linger on the thought, for she had something else to treasure.  



End file.
